1990 Camry 3S...no spark

Supranaut

09-28-2010, 11:00 AM

Changing a valve cover gasket on grandmas' 90 Camry 3S. Car has just over 110k miles on it and runs flawlessly...until now. Took it to the local car wash to give the engine bay a little cleaning due to the leaking valve cover gasket. I tried to not soak the distributor, MAF, ignitor etc on the drivers side of the engine bay as most of the leaking was on the backside of the head on the pass. side. I KNOW I got the distributor wet, as some of the oil leak was built up on the distributor housing.. Now it won't start. Towed it home, let it sit and dry out for a couple of days, disconnected and reconnected everything going to the distributor, pulled a plug, grounded it...no spark. Could I have killed coil that easily? I haven't had a chance to pull the cap and test further...I just can't believe that I could have killed the coil that easily...

Brian R.

09-28-2010, 08:53 PM

I think it is most likely just a case of water in the distributor. It is difficult to dry it out. Try a heat gun (gently) with the cap off, including the cap itself. It may take a while.

Supranaut

09-28-2010, 09:04 PM

Could it really be that easy?!!? I haven't had a chance to even pull the cap off and see whats going on in there yet. I've been busy but will try to pull the cap off and use maybe the wifes hair dryer on it...Thanks for the hope!!

Supranaut

10-02-2010, 02:08 PM

Pulled the cap and it was half full of water...not good, considering the coil is on the lower half of the distributor sitting in its own bath. Cleaned the cap and distributor out with contact cleaner, compressed air and fired up just like new....Thanks!

jdmccright

10-05-2010, 11:31 AM

Hmmm, surprised the main AM2 fuse didn't blow, but congrats!

RIP

10-06-2010, 03:38 AM

Dejavu. Identical thing happened to me some years ago on my 87 wagon. Hair dryer did the trick then too. You live and learn.